They're running dead last and have lost eight matches in a row, but Greater Western Sydney can take solace before their round 13 clash against Brisbane knowing they are statistically superior in almost every department this season over their northern rivals.

Saturday's clash at the Gabba is being billed as a mundane bottom-of-the-table encounter between two sides lacking consistency and spark, but the Giants will see the game as a chance to turn their season around against a Brisbane side in 16th on the ladder.

Brisbane have won their past two matches, which takes their season tally to three wins, one more than GWS. But the statistics paint a different picture.

GWS (71.3 per cent) have a better for-and-against percentage than Brisbane (62.9 per cent), which can be attributed to two narrow defeats against reigning premiers Hawthorn in round 11 and Essendon on Saturday. Their season tally of 883 points, 140 more than Brisbane, has come in the form of 127 goals and 121 behinds, again superior to Justin Leppitsch's side.

Both the Giants and Lions are at the bottom end of each statistical column, but the Giants have kicked more, handballed more and had more disposals than their more fancied Brisbane opponents. Callan Ward's 152 handballs and 289 disposals for the season places him 10th and 16th respectively in that area, while huge ruckman Shane Mumford leads the competition in hit-outs with an average of 42.3 a game; another area GWS comfortably top Brisbane in.

The Giants have made the third most amount of tackles in the competition (799 to 707) and have been more disciplined in the free-kick department, with umpires blowing their whistle 200 times compared to Brisbane's 209, but the Lions have taken seven more marks in what is the only main statistical victory for them.

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Season statistics are one thing, so too is form, but history suggests the '01, '02 and '03 premiers have a head-to-head edge over the Giants. In round 21 last year, Brisbane easily accounted for Leon Cameron's side with a 60-point victory. The year before, they gave them a 132-40 walloping at the Gabba.

A major boost for the Giants, if they are to halt an eight-game losing streak, will be the return of co-captain Phil Davis from a kidney injury. Davis played reserve grade for the UWS Giants on Saturday in their 104-point win over the NT Thunder, just 84 days after an injury which doctors described as "up there with the worst" they had seen.